The Second Monster Day
by Wuff
Summary: It's Halloween and the monsters celebrate their traditional party at the Hog's Head. Sirius has a plan.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** This is a sequel to my other fic "The Monster Day of Monsters" but you don't necessarily have to read it first in order to understand this.

Well, who would have thought ... I surprised myself when I suddenly started writing this. It probably had something to do with the Halloween decoration and candies in the supermarket but also with the fact that "The Monster Day of Monsters" is the only story of mine that doesn't make me cringe at least at one point when rereading it. The beginning is a bit repetitive of the prequel but the rest will be different. All forms of feedback are very welcome.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter and don't intend to make money with writing this.

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**The Second Monster Day**

**Part I**

"I've been wondering how to disguise myself for this year's Monster Day," James said out of the blue one evening when the Marauders were working hard on a potion that would guarantee them at least one morning free of lessons.

"Hm?" Remus mumbled while dreamily watching the cockroach powder that he was pouring steadily and very slowly into the steaming potion.

"Monster Day, the Halloween party where all the monsters go," James clarified. "I can't go there with the same disguise I had last year. They think I'm dead, so I need a disguise that _really_ disguises me."

Remus accidentally added almost a whole fistful of the powder into the potion at once.

"Careful!" Peter grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from the cauldron. "You don't want to spoil the potion …"

Sirius bent over it to sniff the potion and was immediately rewarded with a bubble exploding and shooting grimy liquid straight into his face.

"Ouch," he said, sounding rather surprised than actually injured. James conjured up a towel and handed it over to Sirius. While Peter was busy with trying to save the potion, Sirius was busy with cleaning himself up and James was busy with laughing at Sirius – Remus was still trying to absorb what James had mentioned before. Surely he hadn't meant … He couldn't possibly … He certainly wouldn't …

"James, about what you said earlier," Remus finally ventured but he was interrupted by Sirius's cursing because he did not succeed in removing the muddy brown mass from his face.

"I think I need to take a shower," Sirius announced.

"You can use my anti-jinx shampoo," offered James, who had bought it when he had come up with the idea that his hair was jinxed and that was the reason why it never stayed the way he wanted it to be. So far, it had not helped much.

"Listen, James," Remus tried again once Sirius had left the room and James was not distracted by the funny sight anymore. "I don't really know what to make of what you said just before …"

James threw him a half-amused, half-annoyed look. "Come on, you're certainly not trying to talk us out of it again?"

"You're certainly not trying to talk me into going there again?" Remus countered. "No," he said firmly when James kept grinning at him. "Not after last year's disaster."

"But it was fun," James brought up his standard argument.

"No, it wasn't."

"Why not?"

"Because he had to kiss Sirius," Peter chimed in.

"Fair point," James agreed. "But you don't have to do that again this year."

Oh, if he had a guarantee that _that_ would happen again, Remus would willingly agree to go to the monster party. Maybe.

"That was not the problem," he said. "The problem was that we were almost attacked by dozens of angry werewolves and vampires."

"Yeah, angry because you kissed each other."

James was simplifying things. It had been quite different. Remus would never have kissed Sirius, least of all at such a bizarre party. But one thing had led to another and so it had happened. They really had not had another chance.

"Maybe they're still angry at us. And as you said, you don't have a disguise. You're supposed to be dead. So you can't go there. And Wormtail doesn't have a disguise anymore either."

"We'll just have to get new disguises."

"You could use Polyjuice Potion," Peter suggested. "Then no one will recognise you."

"Wormtail!" Remus exclaimed in indignation. "You do not want to go there, do you?!"

"Um." Peter thought about it and then reached the conclusion: "No."

"I could transform myself into Snivellus and they'd let me in right away," said James.

"But you'd have to drink the potion with Snivellus's _hair_ in it," said Peter.

"Ugh!" James mimicked vomiting into the cauldron.

"Careful, or you'll have the stuff in your face, too," Remus reminded him.

"That's the idea!" James said enthusiastically. "It would make my face unrecognisable."

"You'd better wait and see what happens to Sirius," Peter warned him. "You never know what that potion does to your face."

"Okay," James agreed grudgingly and moved back so that there was a safe distance between him and the cauldron.

"Er."

They all turned around to see Sirius standing in the door rather helplessly. His hair was still wet and his face was -- Remus flinched. It was not a pleasant sight. The skin was full of huge blisters that kept swelling and deflating. New bubbles seemed to pop up non-stop.

"It doesn't go away," Sirius explained, which was kind of unnecessary as the distorted face was impossible to ignore.

"Maybe you should go to Madam Pomfrey," Remus said and tried not to gape too openly at a gigantic bump that was growing out of Sirius's forehead.

"And tell her that we're brewing illegal potions in our dorm? I don't think so."

Of course they did not go to Madam Pomfrey. Fortunately, Sirius's deformed face turned back to normal within three days. James thought that three days with bubbling blisters all over your face were worth the 'fantastic' disguise and decided to take the modified potion on Halloween.

Remus had casually asked Sirius if he would dress up as a vampire again and had reminded him to buy enough fake blood capsules. Just in case.

Two days before Halloween, Sirius addressed him on their way back from Muggle Studies, which only the two of them took. Sirius took it because he wanted to annoy his parents. Remus took it because his parents had 'advised' him to learn more on Muggles after he had given out Fizzing Whizbees to his younger cousins at his grandparents' golden wedding. He had only meant well … The other Marauders thought it was brilliant that he had caused such chaos at a perfectly boring golden wedding by making unsuspecting little Muggle children levitate but the screaming children and their equally screaming parents had thought otherwise.

"Don't you think it's a bit stupid that werewolves and vampires hate each other so much?" said Sirius as if he had just thought of it.

"Yes, it is stupid. It's just one of those things," Remus replied vaguely.

"A bit silly, isn't it, that they celebrate that monster party together but still make a point of hating each other."

"They always have."

"Yes, but it doesn't make sense, does it?"

"No, not much," said Remus, wondering when Sirius would get to the point. "You'd have to ask one of them in order to understand."

"_You_ don't hate vampires on principle, do you?"

"No, of course not."

"Listen, I've been thinking."

_Ah, here we go_, thought Remus and slowed down his steps to match Sirius's.

"If we go to the party again, you know, together, I mean, the two of us …"

"We don't have to do that," Remus saved Sirius from having to say awkward things. "We could just say that we've split up during the last year."

"Yeah, but that would prove their point. That werewolves and vampires hate each other."

"True."

"We could set an example."

Remus forced himself to look at the hour glasses instead of throwing a sidelong glance at Sirius to gauge his opinion on the matter.

"You're right, that would be good, a good example. I'm fine with it. Damn, Ravenclaw already leads with ninety house points."

"Good. I mean, of course it's not good that Ravenclaw has so many points but, well." Remus finally risked a glance at Sirius to see him smiling slightly. Remus stored it away with the other memories of Sirius smiling at him in that way, that way that said '_we have a secret_' although they actually did not have any secret at all. Nothing had changed after the odd kiss last year. Unless you counted the fact that Sirius seemed to smile at him more often than before but maybe that was just because Remus was looking at him more often than before. And there had been that one day when, in a rare moment of daring, Remus had let his lips touch Sirius's cheek briefly when they said goodbye for the summer holidays. Sirius had flushed somewhat and instead of hugging him goodbye had just shaken Remus's hand and clasped it a bit too tightly, had mumbled something like 'enjoy your holidays' and 'see you' and had hurried away. It was reassuring to know that not even such moments could affect the times they spent together during full moons, their planning and executing pranks, and everything in-between.

"I've been thinking," Sirius said and confused Remus, who thought that he was living through a feeling of déjà-vu. "If we found out the reason behind all that hate, it would maybe solve a lot of things. And if they don't have a reason, it's all the better because then we can prove to them how useless that animosity is."

Once Remus had caught up with Sirius's strain of thoughts, he was not too enthusiastic. "I don't think you stand a chance against such old animosity."

"But if they keep fighting each other, they'll never stand a chance to get the same rights like wizards. What they need is a strong basis, they need to be united and thus they can prove to the Ministry that they deserve equal rights."

"Sirius, you won't be able to revolutionise the wizarding world."

"But someone has to try and make them see sense, right? We are in the perfect position to do that."

"Oh. I see." From that point of view, it made perfect sense. "Right, if you insist, we'll try to speak to some of them."

"I already have a plan. I made it when I had the blisters. Couldn't really sleep. It felt like my face was trying to crawl away."

oOo

Remus and Peter were lucky. They could just be themselves and did not have to wear silly costumes or sticky make-up. The best thing was that _they_ did _not_ have ugly swellings in their face. James had developed the unnerving habit of abruptly stopping dead or twisting his head suddenly because he feared that Lily Evans might see him like this. The three of them were waiting for Sirius, who was busy with last minute preparations for his great plan to make the world a better place.

There were movements around the corner and James jumped behind a suit of armour once more but reappeared from behind there when he realised that it was just Sirius.

"Padfoot?"

"Yes?" Sirius said distractedly while handing each of them quills and pieces of parchments.

"Didn't you want to dress up as a vampire?" James said exasperatedly.

"Everything ready." Sirius opened his mouth to show his vampire fangs. They did not go very well with his bright yellow t-shirt with a dog on it and his striped flared trousers.

"Let's go," Sirius said brightly and set the way. Exchanging dubious looks, the others followed.

"Vampires aren't supposed to look like that, are they?" James said under his breath so that Sirius did not hear him.

"No, but he wants to make a point," Remus whispered back. It was for the same reason that Remus could wear clean clothes this year and did not have to pretend to be an uncivilised werewolf.

On their way to the Hog's Head, Sirius kept telling them what they had to do. _Again_. Finally, it was Peter who interrupted him by saying quite clearly, "We _know_."

A walking mummy was standing at the entrance to the Hog's Head and ticked off the guests' names from a list. It lifted the bandage that covered its blackened mouth and said in a raspy voice, "Welcome to the Monster Day of Monsters. Who are you?"

"I'm Mr. Padfoot, vampire," Sirius said and smiled pleasantly at the mummy.

"Remus Lupin, werewolf," said Remus.

"You don't look like one," the mummy commented.

"But I am." Remus showed it his werewolf identification card, and, convinced, the mummy ticked his name off.

"I am Mr. Glumbumble," James introduced himself.

"Type of monster?"

"There was this tragic potion accident that left me forever deformed, robbed of my former handsome looks, my fiancé left me, my parents disowned me, and lonely and outcast --"

"Yes, yes, this is all very sad," the mummy said impatiently and twirled one loose bandage around its finger, "but you don't qualify as a monster."

"He sure looks like one," said Remus.

"And your invitation clearly states that 'everything else which could be classified as a monster' is invited, too," Sirius added.

"Alright," the mummy said grumpily. "What about you?"

"I'm Mr. Wormtail and I was a wererat once."

"Wererat, wererat … ah, here it is. You've been here last year, too, haven't you?" The mummy paused for a moment. "You said you were a wererat _once_. What do you mean by that?"

Peter took a deep breath. "I was a rat once but then was bitten by a werewolf. So then I was human but turned into a rat during full moons. But then I was bitten by a werecat and thus accidentally discovered the cure for rattumthropy. So I'm not really a monster anymore. It's just that I still _feel_ like a monster. I didn't integrate into wizarding society, I much prefer flobberworm salad to their _civilised_ food. Please, can't I take part just today? This party gives me the feeling that I still belong somewhere."

Remus was impressed with Peter's acting skills. They had much improved since last year. His pleading glance was heart-rending. But the hearts of mummies were probably removed when they were created so that they did not rot inside of the mummy.

"I'm sorry but only monsters are allowed. I can't make an exception."

"It's just his appearance that seems human," Sirius said. "I assure you, inside he still feels very much like a monster. It's that what really counts: your mental monster state. Not just the appearance."

"He is a perfectly normal human being," the mummy insisted, "and those are not allowed here."

"No, he's not," James interfered. "Didn't you listen to his story? _Originally_,he was a _rat_ who became a human through two bites: first a werewolf, then a werecat. So he's still not really cured. From the rat's point of view, he's still a monster."

"I admit that it does make sense in a certain way but he is still a normal human being. Well. You could file an application for an exemption clause because of a special case of hardship." The mummy handed him five parchments. "Then your case will be discussed at the next meeting of the Monster League and maybe you can come to the party next year."

"What about this year?" James asked.

Annoyed, the mummy grunted. "I have to talk to my boss first." It disappeared and arrived a few moments later with a brute-looking man. Remus recognised him as the werewolf who had welcomed them last year.

"Good evening, gentlemen," he addressed them. "So, Mr. Wormtail, what is the problem?"

"The problem is that he is less rat than ever!" James exclaimed. "He looks like a human but in reality he's just a completely modified rat."

"How fascinating. You have to tell me more about it, Mr. Wormtail. But why don't you come in, it's cold outside." The werewolf took Peter's arm and led him inside. The others followed. "Mr. Lupin, here again, too, eh? And even more civilised." He threw Remus a disapproving glance.

Remus rolled his eyes when the werewolf turned back and chatted with Peter. "We have warm puffskein giblets, you _have_ to try them. And the spider leg risotto, de-li-ci-ous. Unfortunately, the Headless Hunt couldn't come this year but we have booked a werewolf a cappella quartet instead …"

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**Author's Note: **Expect the second (and last) chapter on Halloween!

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	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Now look at this: I'm three days early. Let's hope this will get you all into a nice Halloween mood. But I have to warn you: Although this story is labelled as humour, it includes angsty bits.

**The Second Monster Day**

**Part II  
**

Entering the Hog's Head was not as shocking and nauseating as last year because they expected the stench and the noise. Nonetheless, it was not a pleasant experience. Sirius reminded them that they were not here for the fun but that they had a 'mission'.

So they started the questionnaire survey that he had prepared. Remus chose an old werewolf lady as his first interviewee. She stood on her own, sipping a Bloody Boggart cocktail, and did not look nearly as wild as the other werewolves. She also seemed a safer interview partner than that group of young vampires who kept eyeing him suspiciously.

"Excuse me, ma'am, do you mind answering a few questions for our questionnaire?" he asked politely. "My friends and I are doing this project for school …"

"Sorry, can't write."

"That's okay, you just have to answer the questions and I'll write them down for you."

"Alright then."

"Okay." Remus cleared his throat. "First question: What do you think about vampires?"

She snorted derisively. "Undead bastards. Think they're above us all. Do you know what that one just called me?" She pointed to the group of young vampires. "That young bloodsucker called me a 'dirty, old bitch'! Ha! I bet he's twice my age, just doesn't look it because his youth was restored. Unnatural, that's what it is."

"I see." Remus wrote down, _interviewee is disturbed by vampires' undeadness_. "Good. Next question: Do you have vampire friends?"

"No, of course not. They'd never get down from their high pedestal to associate with _uncivilised_ folk like us."

"Okay. Can you explain to me how the feud between vampires and werewolves started?"

"Well, I bet the werewolves were annoyed with the vampires' arrogance."

"I see. A, uh, an interesting idea." Remus smiled sheepishly at her. "Thanks a lot for your time. Enjoy the party."

That had not gone exactly as planned. Maybe he should better talk to younger people. Old people were often set in their beliefs. Remus moved on to a young vampire. Well, at least the vampire was _looking_ like a teenager.

"Excuse me, could I maybe make a little interview with you?"

"What for? And is it anonymous?"

"Of course it's anonymous. It's for a school project. My friends and I are doing research on werewolf-vampire relations."

"Good luck," the vampire said sardonically.

Remus smiled awkwardly and started with his questions. "What do you think about werewolves?"

"They're quite vulgar, aren't they?"

Remus winced. "Isn't that a bit harsh?" he asked cautiously.

"Have you ever seen an educated werewolf? It even pains me to watch them eat. I suppose they haven't heard yet that such things like forks and knives exist. And their hygienic standards leave much to be desired."

"Well, from that point of view …" Remus wrote down, _interviewee is appalled that many werewolves are illiterate_, and continued with the questions.

"Do you have werewolf friends?"

"I would have if they weren't unable to lead an intelligent discussion."

"Do you know how the feud between vampires and werewolves started?"

"I don't think there was a special event. It is just that our natures are complete opposites and therefore could never coexist peacefully."

"That … sort of makes sense if you look at it that way. Anyway, thanks for your time. I hope you enjoy the party."

"Not likely," the vampire muttered mournfully.

After three more interviews that went much like the other two, Remus did not find more people who looked peaceful enough to let him ask such questions. He joined Peter, who stood in a corner of the Hog's Head and looked just as clueless as Remus felt.

"Hi. How many questionnaires do you have?" Remus asked.

"Three. You?"

"Five." They simultaneously heaved a deep sigh.

"It doesn't make much sense, does it?"

"No, not at all." Remus sighed again. "But don't tell Sirius."

James joined them a few minutes later. "Whoa, that old hag really went into hysterics," he informed them. "Threatened to suck my blood if I didn't stop pestering her."

"You better be careful. These people here are all crazy," Remus said.

"Why aren't you doing interviews anymore?" Sirius came towards them, his cheeks flushed with enthusiasm.

"What for?" James complained. "They're all the same: Why do you hate vampires? – Because they're bloody bloodsuckers. Why do you hate werewolves? – Because they're wild halfbreeds. Very enlightening."

"James, you shouldn't adopt such prejudices," Sirius said earnestly. "You've got to make them understand that they're wrong. Peter, why do you only have three questionnaires? _This is important_."

The other three Marauders suppressed a sigh and reluctantly went back to work. Remus managed to interview two more vampires. After that, he just filled in one questionnaire with invented answers. He was not exactly manipulating the survey, he told himself. After all, he himself was a werewolf, so you could say that he was interviewing himself.

He, Peter and James met again in the quiet corner of the room and compared their questionnaires.

"I faked a few questionnaires," James admitted in a whisper.

"Yeah, me too," Peter said, grinning guiltily.

"It's really easy." James rolled his eyes. "If you have interviewed two or three of them, you have all the answers. But don't tell Sirius."

"I have faked one, too," Remus admitted.

All three of them threw Sirius, who kept talking animatedly to a vampire, a guilty look.

"But how could that hate be stopped?" he was saying insistently.

"Shoot them all a silver bullet through the heart," the vampire said curtly.

"But you can't fight violence with violence!" Sirius exclaimed.

Just then, a horrible sound made them all jump. It was a polyphonic and very dissonant wailing. They turned around to see the werewolf a cappella quartet on the little stage. Four men and one woman were throwing their heads back, opening their mouths in ecstasy and howling shrilly. And that was really all they did.

"See what I mean?" the vampire, who Sirius was talking to, said disdainfully. "They call that _music_."

Most vampires and also many other guests seemed to agree with that opinion. Soon pickled eyeballs were flying towards the 'singing' werewolves.

"Hey, stop that!" Sirius tried to intervene and grabbed the arm of one particularly gloomy-looking vampire, who had just been about to throw a handful of rotten maggots. "You have to show respect to their traditions and their music!"

"I don't respect such bestial howling."

"Well, to the ears of a werewolf it certainly sounds like beautiful music," Sirius argued.

_No, certainly not_, Remus thought and rubbed his ears to make the ringing go away.

"Then that just proves how barbaric they are," the vampire said.

"If you just gave it a chance and listened to it more often, you'd probably understand the appeal of such music, too," Sirius implored. "It's just a matter of listening habits."

"It's just horrible."

"I think it's fascinating that different species have such different kinds of music. It's wonderful that there's such variety. Don't you see --" Sirius never got to finish that sentence because just then decayed minced meat hit him square in the face. He spluttered and wiped the disgusting pulp from his face. Then the next stage of his plan began.

Between two songs from the werewolf quartet, Sirius went onto the stage to explain what he had in store for the guests.

"In order to get to know each other better, I have prepared a little game. In this bag," he swung the plastic bag in his hand, "are slips of parchments with numbers on it. Each number exists twice. Now I want you all to pull one slip and find your partner with the same number."

"That's never going to work, they can't even read numbers," one vampire shouted with a deadly glare towards the werewolves at the other side of the room.

"Then you can help them to read the numbers," Sirius said, grinning widely.

"I don't need no help from a fucking vampire," a werewolf growled.

"Hey, no need to be rude," Sirius admonished him. "It's nice of them to offer help."

"I never offered help," the vampire shot back.

"Anyway," Sirius said, "once you've found your partner, you talk to each other and find out three things both of you like and three things that both of you dislike. Okay? And of course you can dance together while you talk. After all, we have this wonderful music from this talented group here – what's your name? – Ah, _The Werewolves_, cool."

While Sirius forced everyone to pull a slip of parchment with a number on it from his bag (he would not stop talking at them until they agreed), James tried desperately to fight down a fit of chuckles.

"Oh dear Merlin, I had no idea that he, ahahaha, oh, he's so crazy! That's never, ahahaha, going to work!"

James was right: It did not work. Most of them just threw the slips of parchments with their numbers to the floor. Some werewolves tried feverishly to decipher their numbers. A golem and a vampire had hesitantly started their discussion but aside from them, people were throwing glances full of mistrust at each other. According to his number, Remus was supposed to talk to a troll. He said, 'Hi, how are you?', the troll grunted at him and Remus decided that the discussion had been long enough for them to have found out what they had in common.

Meanwhile, Sirius was trying to stop a werewolf and an ogre from clawing out each other's eyes, James was dancing with a gorgon and Peter was talking to the old werewolf lady. Sirius caught Remus's eye and waved him to come over.

"We should dance together. To set an example," he said and reproachfully regarded the werewolf and the ogre, who had stopped attacking each other but still looked like they were continuing the fight with murderous glares.

"I don't really know how to dance," Remus said but followed Sirius nonetheless.

"It's easy. It's like hugging and swaying around." Sirius laughed and put his hands on Remus's waist.

"Let's hope we survive this," Remus said and put his arms around Sirius. Of course it was not as easy as Sirius had promised. Their knees kept bumping together and Remus kept stepping on Sirius's feet.

"It's the music," Sirius explained when one of his unexpected twists had, once again, almost caused Remus to topple over. "I don't know if it's possible to dance a waltz to werewolf howling."

Remus, however, was convinced that the only reason for the clumsy dance were his clumsy feet and that proper waltz music would not change a thing but he kept dancing and did not give up. They had to set an example, after all. Also, even Peter was brave enough to dance with the old werewolf lady, so it would be quite pathetic if Remus chickened out of dancing with Sirius.

Then he was fortunately saved by a vampire and a werewolf who addressed Sirius.

"We've only found one thing that both of us like," the vampire said and anxiously adjusted his glasses, reminding Remus oddly of James when he was expecting McGonagall to give him detention.

Sirius's face split into an enormous grin, making Remus worry that the vampire teeth would fall out of his mouth. "That's a start!" he told them happily.

"We both like blood," the vampire explained, "but we couldn't think of anything else."

"So what do we do now?" the werewolf girl asked sullenly.

"But that can't be all. If you just talk a bit to each other, get to know each other better, you'll find that you have so many things in common."

"Okay," the vampire said not too enthusiastically. The look on the werewolf's face mirrored his scepticism.

Sirius smiled encouragingly at them and then nudged Remus's left foot to try to make him dance again.

"So, let's talk about three things that both of us like and three things both of us don't like," Sirius said conversationally. Remus thought that dancing and talking at the same time was a bit too much to ask for and, to top it all, just at that moment a troll's club was swinging dangerously close to his head.

"I don't like trolls' clubs," he gasped in shock.

"Don't be unfair, Moony. It's probably their dancing style. I like dancing."

"Well, I don't."

"You don't?"

Sirius sounded genuinely surprised and maybe even a little hurt, which made Remus feel somewhat guilty. Were you _supposed_ to like dancing with the person you also liked to kiss?

"They aren't doing what I told them to do," Sirius said abruptly.

"Who?"

"Everyone. They all keep to their own kind. They don't talk to each other. I think I'll have to make a speech."

"A speech?" Remus echoed in disbelief and once more stepped on Sirius's foot. "You never said anything about a _speech_."

"I was hoping that it wouldn't be necessary. But look at them: It can't stay that way." Sirius let go of Remus, who was both relieved and a little disappointed, and went onto the stage again. A few werewolves booed already now. They did not seem too happy with Sirius's ideas.

"Everybody listen, please!" he shouted. "I want to say a few words."

"What's he doing _now_?" James stepped next to Remus, who watched the whole situation with a mixture of amusement and slight worry.

"Apparently he wants to make a speech."

James was just as gobsmacked as Remus had been when Sirius had announced his idea. "And then everyone will realise their mistake, there will be a touching reconciliation with singing peace songs together and holding hands?"

"That's probably what Sirius has in mind."

"Oh dear. Did he drink or eat something from that buffet?"

"I don't think he had time to drink or eat anything." They turned their attention to Sirius, who started his speech.

"Dear party guests, dear vampires, werewolves, trolls, ogres, golems, zombies, gorgons, former wererats and everyone else I forgot to mention. As you all know --"

"Why did he say vampires first?" a werewolf complained.

"Well, that's obvious, isn't it?" another werewolf backed her up. "He's a vampire himself, conceited bastards that they are, would never dream of mentioning werewolves first, that prejudiced bloodsucker!"

"It's because 'v' comes before 'w' in the alphabet, you dumb animal!" a vampire screeched.

"He should have mentioned the gorgons first," James told Remus. "Gorgons are really nice. The one I danced with told me I was sexy."

Remus stared at James's grinning face, which was moving with swelling and shrinking boils. If you put it into consideration, there _was_ maybe a certain resemblance to the gorgons' squirming hair of snakes.

"As you all know," Sirius tried once more, "this party is meant to be an occasion where many different people from different backgrounds celebrate _together_." He put great emphasis on the last word and threw the crowd a significant look. The effect was somewhat ruined by the grinning dog on his yellow t-shirt.

"It saddens me to see you fight each other when _together_ you could achieve so much more. Most of you experience cruelty and injustice from the Ministry and wizarding society. It is in your power to change it but there's only one way this could happen: _Together_."

"I think everyone got that by now," James muttered, "even the dumbest werewolf." He nudged Remus playfully.

Remus elbowed James back. "Speak for yourself, Mr. _Glumbumble_. It is a well-known fact that sexy people have no brains."

"The first step to achieve equal rights," Sirius continued, "is to prove to the rest of the world that you are not the monsters they take you for. You are worth – and I mean each and every one of you! – so much more! You are human just like the wizards who try to oppress you! You have to fight their prejudices! But what do you do? You fight each other instead! Don't you see that the werewolves, vampires, so-called normal humans and everyone else are all just the same, with their hopes and fears, love and anger, sorrows and passions?"

"Yeah, with their thirst for blood and their beds in coffins!" a werewolf growled.

"Ha, don't you compare us to the halfbreeds with their rotten breath and their unwashed hair!" a vampire screeched.

"Stop it!" Sirius yelled. "Stop it. No one of you could explain to me why werewolves and vampires hate each other so much --"

"Like hell we can't!" werewolves and vampires screamed together. Suddenly they were on one side – all of them together against Sirius, whom they gave a detailed list of reasons why they hated each other so much. But Sirius did not give up so quickly.

"I'm not only speaking of vampires and werewolves, I mean all of you when I say that you should work _together_! Stop judging people by their appearance or their monster status! One of my very best friends --" Sirius's arm made a sweeping gesture until it pointed at Peter, who looked positively horrified. "-- looks just like a completely normal human being. But is he really your average wizard? No! The truth is that _inside_ he feels very much like one of you! He is not what would be considered a monster by your standards but he _feels_ like one!" Sirius completely ignored the slug jelly that landed directly at his feet (or maybe he really did not notice it) and continued unperturbedly.

"Another friend of mine -- actually, my lover and my personal blood donor --" Sirius's arms were gesturing wildly and everyone's eyes turned to Remus, who instinctively took a step back to stand behind James "-- is a werewolf! Yes, I know what you're all thinking but I assure you: He doesn't ask me for anything in return! I never forced myself on him to drink from him either! No, he gives his blood willingly and why? Because he _loves_ me! Yes, it is possible: a werewolf and a vampire can love each other and why should they not? My werewolf friend doesn't want to be a werewolf but he can't change that! But isn't it our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities? The fact that he's a werewolf doesn't change anything about him as a person and it certainly doesn't change my feelings towards him!" Sirius had to duck to avoid a pixie pie that came flying towards his head. A whole bowl of flobberworm salad followed.

"I just wish he'd stop talking," Remus mumbled. His face was still red as a beet from all the attention he was getting and from the hisses and snarls of "blood traitor", "faggot" and "civilised werewolf".

"The thing is," Sirius shouted and picked a flobberworm from his t-shirt, "that it is up to _you_! You can make a difference! Don't allow them to call you a 'monster'! What a derogatory term! You are no monsters! You are no more and no less a monster than all the other wizards!"

"But this is a monster party," grunted a troll, who was obviously very confused.

"I am a monster and proud of it!" cried a zombie.

If they continued throwing food like this, there would not be much left to eat. Some were outraged by Sirius's speech, others found it merely amusing but most of them had stopped listening and went along with their own business of being monsters and hating certain other monster species.

If this had taken place in the Marauders' dormitory and no one else but they had been present, Remus and James would have laughed at Sirius, too, for his over the top gestures and pompous words. But now their jaws were set and they were feeling very defensive because _other_ people were laughing at _their_ friend – who was, admittedly, really making a fool of himself but that was not the point.

"Why can't he just see that it doesn't help?" James muttered uneasily.

"Help!" Peter came running towards them, panic written all over his face. "Help," he gasped.

"What's wrong?" James asked urgently.

"That woman – that werewolf – wants to bite me!"

"_What_?!" Remus's voice cracked with shock. His eyes darted around the room until he caught sight of the old werewolf. She had looked so harmless … His fingers curled around his wand. She'd better not try to turn one of his friends into a werewolf!

"I told her my story, how I became what I am supposed to be now, wererat or whatever," Peter said out of breath. "And she offered to bite me. Said it'd maybe change me back to, well, whatever because it's also been a werewolf bite which has changed me first."

"Oh no," Remus moaned, "oh no, no, no. Shit. We have to leave. Shit!"

"Don't panic, Wormtail, Moony," James tried to calm them down. "She probably only meant well. But maybe we should leave all the same." He looked around for Sirius … but Sirius was not on the stage anymore.

"Where has he gone now? If he's trying to do group therapy with vampires and werewolves now or something equally ridiculous, I swear I'm going to bite him personally." James raked his hair and then turned to Peter. "Why don't you go back before the werewolf decides to act, and Moony and me go looking for that idiot and come back as soon as we've found him?"

Peter gave James a look that stated quite clearly, _It's dark outside and the way back to Hogwarts is long _and _there is a werewolf after my blood_.

"Alright," James agreed, "it's maybe better if I come with you. You never know what crazy folk is outside tonight. Moony, you try to knock some sense into Padfoot. I don't want him to force Snivellus to move in our dorm within his we're-all-brothers-ideology."

"Okay. Be careful," Remus said, always keeping his eyes glued to the werewolf who had threatened Peter. Once Peter and James had safely left the Hog's Head and the werewolf had showed no sign of wanting to follow them, Remus started his search for Sirius. He was not near the stage anymore. He was not at the buffet either. Remus fought his way through the crowd of sweating and stinking bodies but Sirius was nowhere to be seen.

"Have you seen Mr. Padfoot?" Remus asked one of the nicer vampires. "The one who just made the speech. He's wearing --"

"Looks like he has finally gone. I hope his werewolf _friends_ rip him to pieces. Would serve him right."

Remus swallowed hard and continued his search. _Sirius is brilliant at duelling_, he kept telling himself. _Many of the people here aren't properly educated, I bet most of them don't even carry a wand._ But that did not stop his heart from beating faster. _The trolls have big clubs. They could easily … And both the vampires and the werewolves are really angry. What if …_

Finally the mummy could at least tell him that Sirius had left the Hog's Head a few minutes ago. Remus hurried outside and frantically looked around. Once his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he could see a figure leaning against the pub's wall.

"Sirius?"

Remus quickly walked closer until he could recognise that the slouched figure was indeed Sirius. Ripped pieces of parchment lay at his feet and there was … For one horrible moment Remus's heart stopped beating and his stomach sank sickeningly but then he realised that it was just the fake blood from Sirius's blood capsules that he had obviously squashed.

"There you are," Remus said in relief. "We've been looking for you. Prongs and Wormtail have already gone back because … things got complicated."

Sirius did not even look at him. "It's useless," he said in a flat voice.

Remus waited for him to elaborate but when nothing came, he asked, "What is useless?"

"Everything. Just … everything." Sirius gave an odd short laugh. "They didn't even _try_. I thought there'd at least be a few who'd at least _try_. 'We both like blood'." He laughed again and this time it sounded even less like a laugh than before. "Well, _shit_."

Saying, _You shouldn't have expected a miracle from your campaign_, seemed unwise, so Remus just shrugged and knelt down to pick up the pieces of parchments. They were the questionnaires from earlier this night, ripped in the middle and speckled with fake blood. The first one read: _What do you think about werewolves? – They stink._

"How can people be so stupid?" It worried Remus a bit that Sirius sounded so strangely throaty.

"Sirius, you have to realise that the clientele at this monster Halloween party is a bit, well … Not everyone is like that."

But Sirius was not in the mood for reasonable arguments. "Yes, Remus, everyone is like that. This whole world is full of shit. All the people – full of shit."

"I once met a nice werewolf at St. Mungo's." She had come to visit him there right after he had been bitten, had patiently explained to him what it meant to be a werewolf and had given his parents useful advice on the necessary precautions and recipes for healing potions. Remus supposed she had been sent there from some organisation. Sometimes he was wondering if this could perhaps be a job for him later. The odds to find a decent job were pretty low for him but he would like to do that: help other victims of the werewolf curse.

"_One_ nice werewolf?" Sirius said. "And how many stupid ones? The whole world's just full of shit. It should be illegal to bring a child into this world. They'll be manipulated by all that shit, and if they're nice, the rest of the world punishes them for it."

Finally Remus understood how Sirius must feel. He had once been in such a state, too, when he had given up on justice, politics, people's innate goodness and just the world in general. When he had been thirteen, his healer had discovered that small hairs were starting to grow in Remus's armpits and had resolved that he could not treat his patient any longer because werewolves were supposedly extremely unstable and uncontrollable during their puberty.

Maybe the healer was right and werewolves were really unstable during their puberty because that evening when his parents had called him to come down for dinner for the fourth time, he had raised his voice and told them that he was not hungry, for heaven's sake. Then he had kicked against the wall and spent the rest of the day sulking in his room. Later that night his mother had come to embrace him and tell him all those lies: that all would be well, that he was still the same person, that people would grow to understand how nice he was and would not judge him for being a werewolf and that all would just be well, and Remus had cried.

Now he let the questionnaires drop back on the earth, straightened up and leant back against the wall next to Sirius.

"Tell me what's going on," he said.

"What is there to tell?" Sirius's voice wavered a bit but he quickly continued. "We didn't even get to the game when they should be blindfolded and answer questions and find out who the other one was and …"

And although Sirius had insisted that there was nothing to tell, the words were blurting out now, incoherent and in reverse order and interspersed with many swearwords. At first, Remus listened to every word but then things became repetitive and Remus was caught up in his own memories. But he suspected that Sirius did not want replies anyway, just wanted to get things out of his system and have the feeling that someone was there who listened to him. Remus remembered a very exciting adventure novel he had once read about a war between werewolves and vampires, he remembered the Halloween party last year when Sirius had squeezed his hand, he remembered how last month he had been outside in the light of the full moon for the first time after ten years …

Sirius sighed softly and paused in his talking. They both listened to the muffled noises from inside the Hog's Head: the loud conversations, things breaking, snarls, hisses and of course the horrible music.

"It was a good idea," Remus said and edged closer to Sirius so that their arms were touching. "Maybe too good to come true."

"They laughed," Sirius said bitterly. "They all laughed at me. Didn't even consider what I said for a moment."

"It was a good speech," Remus lied.

"You just say that to make me feel better."

"No, I mean it. It was …" _Pompous, melodramatic, exaggerated …_ "The words weren't always perfect but the meaning behind all of it was very right. I liked it."

"So what? It didn't change anything."

Remus could not find the words to express how Sirius, James and Peter's friendship, their acceptance and their becoming Animagi had changed _everything_ for him.

"You expect too much," he said soothingly.

"Do I expect too much if I want people to just leave each other in peace? I thought my parents were an exception with their idiocy but everyone's just as insane as they are. Mudblood, faggot, halfbreed … Fuck. Why can't they just leave people in peace?"

Remus did not have an answer to that.

"Moony?" Sirius said, and his voice was suddenly oddly quiet.

"Yes?"

"I think I sort of … am."

"You're … what?" Remus gave an awkward laugh and kept staring at the ground. "You certainly aren't a Muggle-born. And you haven't been bitten by a werewolf lately, right?"

"No."

"So …"

"Faggot. Yeah."

Remus held his breath. Sure, he had wondered, had come to expect it but he had never thought of an adequate reaction to such a revelation. Somehow he had thought that they would just kiss like last year and everything would be fine.

"So you're …" Remus cringed. There did not seem to be an appropriate word to say this. "… homosexual?"

"Yes, that's what faggot means, in case you didn't know. So?"

Remus dug the top of his shoes into the mud that was fallen leaves, the ripped questionnaires and fake blood. Finally he turned to Sirius and tried to grin. "If you are, then I suppose I am, too."

Sirius looked at him inquisitively. "Kissing a boy once doesn't necessarily make you gay."

"No, but if you enjoyed it and … and want to do it again …"

"And don't think about girls like that, then it's likely that you're gay," Sirius finished for Remus, making him see that they had been pondering the same things and had come to the same conclusion. And that made it so much easier because it meant he was not the only one who was like that.

"Well, to be honest," Sirius said, "I was hoping that there would somehow be a situation at this party for us to kiss again."

"Well, dancing with you was nice but a bit stupid. I'd prefer kissing, I think. And don't say '_Why didn't you say?_'"

"I won't."

"Good. Take your vampire teeth out."

Sirius did so. Remus moved a bit closer until their faces were only inches apart. He looked at Sirius with his stupid t-shirt, a flobberworm entangled in his hair and a stain of fake blood on his cheek, and his chest felt like constricting and bursting at the same time.

"Sirius," he said and plucked the flobberworm out of his hair. But then he did not know anymore what he had wanted to say and just leant in to kiss him. Sirius's arms immediately flew up to wrap around Remus.

All the pent-up tension and pretension left Remus and he just felt warm. Everything was warm: Sirius's body, his own body, Sirius's mouth, the humid breath against his skin, the hands on his back. Remus noticed in amazement that Sirius had closed his eyes and that his whole body had relaxed against Remus's. He tried to close his eyes, too, but could not help opening them again and again to check if Sirius's eyes were still shut.

Then they had to separate for a moment and breathe in the cold autumn night air. Remus's heart was beating quickly because this was so different from last year. No one was watching them, it was just the two of them, which made everything so much more real and therefore a little frightening.

Sirius swallowed and his lips curved into the tiniest of smiles. "Thanks," he said hoarsely.

"What for?"

Sirius just shrugged and softly pressed his lips against Remus's once more.

Afterwards, Remus could not say anymore how it happened. He just knew that he suddenly landed in the mud, right on his bottom. He was too surprised to analyse his situation until he heard Sirius laughing. Knowing that Sirius was in a good mood again left him relieved.

Still chuckling, Sirius knelt down next to him and moved some of the torn pieces of parchment out of the way. Remus understood that he must have slipped on those.

"Useless, completely useless," Sirius said but he did not sound so bitter anymore.

Remus picked up one of the dirty questionnaires, too, and read the questions aloud to Sirius.

"Mr. Padfoot, can I ask you a few questions? What do you think about werewolves?"

Sirius snorted. "They're a bunch of idiots."

"I agree. Next question: Do you know how the feud between vampires and werewolves started?"

"By idiocy."

"Yeah, must have. There's really no other explanation for that. Third question: Do you have werewolf friends?"

"One. Just one."

THE END


End file.
